Wilson, Karen Louise (née Solling)   (1950 - )

Born in West Maitland, NSW, June 1950;

Karen studied at The University of Sydney, graduating with a BSc (Agric) in 1973, later followed by external study at The University of New South Wales resulting in an MSc in 1986.

In 1973 she was appointed as a botanist at the National Herbarium of New South Wales. Her research interests included Cyperaceae, Juncaceae, Polygonaceae and Casuarinaceae. An account of the latter, written jointly with Lawrie Johnson, appeared in the Flora of Australia volume 3 (1989).

She was appointed to a one-year term as ABLO in Kew, UK, and arrived in London with her husband Alastair on 2 September 1988. She had a week's overlap with the previous ABLO, Judy West.

On her return from UK, she continued at the National Herbarium of NSW. Besides her systematic research, she was heavily involved for two decades with international databasing projects including the International Organisation for Plant Information, the Species 2000 and ITIS Catalogue of Life, the Taxonomic Database Working Group (TDWG) and the Global Biodiversity Information Facility (GBIF).

Subsequently, she acted as manager of the Plant Diversity section of the National Herbarium of NSW for four years before her retirement in July 2016.

After retirement, she continued various research projects as an Honorary Research Associate at the National Herbarium of NSW.

In July 2011, she was elected as the Secretary of the General Committee for Nomenclature, which oversees the functioning of the International Code of Nomenclature for Algae, Fungi, and Plants for the six years between International Botanical Congresses. She was re-elected to this position in July 2017.

Source: Extracted from:
George, Alex (Ed), The Australian Botanical Liaison Officer scheme at Kew, 1937-2009, Four Gables Press, Perth, 2023.
Portrait Photo: 2009, M.Fagg

Collecting localities for 'Wilson, K.L.' from AVH (2023)

Data from 18,372 specimens